Rosario, Orb try to make it 2-for-2 in Preakness with an eye on the Triple Crown

BALTIMORE 
As Orb’s trainer Shug McGaughey approached jockey Joel Rosario in the Churchill Downs paddock before the Kentucky Derby, he gave his talented 28-year-old rider from the Dominican Republic one simple riding instruction.

“Joel, ride him with a lot of confidence like you always do,” McGaughey told the leading jockey in the country in wins and earnings of more than $8 million.

Rosario prefers that a trainer’s race and riding instructions be that simple, the simpler, the better.

“Too many instructions complicate things,” he said. “The less a trainer tells a jockey the better.”

Rosario rallied Orb from 17th place at the 6-furlong mark to win the 139th Kentucky Derby by 2½ lengths. Rosario’s rally of Orb from the clouds looked more like Mike Smith urging home Zenyatta in her amazing finishes. If ever Rosario showed that he could be patient and close with a talented horse, he did that on the classic stage of the Derby.

Now Rosario is knocking on the door of this game’s hallowed history, its Triple Crown. Rosario and Orb figure to crack that door a bit more today as the morning-line, even-money favorite in the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown. A win gives Rosario and the rest of Orb’s connections a shot at the first Triple Crown in 35 years. Jockey Steve Cauthen was the last to win it in 1978 on Affirmed for the late trainer Laz Barrera and Harbor View Farm.

“Joel has a real chance to win these next two races with Orb,” said Rosario’s agent, Ron Anderson. “Maybe this is the year for the magic.”

Three times in the past, Anderson saw clients of his win two of three in the Triple Crown series. Gary Stevens won two of three (Derby and Preakness) with Silver Charm and (Derby and Belmont) with Thunder Gulch. And Chris Antley won two of three with Charismatic (Derby and Preakness).

Anderson believes Rosario is just the jockey to break that streak. He said Laffitt Pincay Jr., told him that Rosario reminds him of himself, especially the way he closes races with strength and skill. The late Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel once touted Rosario to him when Anderson spotted Rosario riding at Golden Gate.

“Bobby said, ‘You better watch this guy. He’s good,’ ” Anderson said. “Then he said if I was lucky, I’d be working for him some day.”

When Rosario moved East, trainer Shug McGaughey saw those same qualities that Frankel saw.

“I haven’t seen any weaknesses yet,” McGaughey said, adding that he felt once Rosario learned to rate a horse better he would do as well in the East as he did in the West, where he won 11 riding titles in less than three years at Hollywood Park, Santa Anita and Del Mar.

“The talent was there,” McGaughey said. “He is young and energetic and a very, very confident guy.”

Rosario is on a roll like no other in his career right now. It started last summer at Del Mar. He parachuted in to the beach last August and won the Grade I, $1 million TVG Pacific Classic aboard Dullahan. In March, he won the $10 million Dubai Cup aboard Animal Kingdom. He won the Keeneland spring meeting with 38 wins, breaking a 23-year-old record held by Randy Romero. He won five races on opening night at Churchill Downs and then won the Derby, becoming the first rider from the Dominican Republic to do that.